The invention relates to a pressure reducing valve having a piston-like plug, whose output pressure is automatically controlled relative to ambient pressure, particularly for scuba breathing apparatus regulators.
The valve of the present invention is of the type which comprises two axially adjacent chambers, separated by a partition and whereof one, the so-called compensation chamber, communicates with the outside environment and the other, the so-called pressure chamber, communicates with a pressurized gas source, whereas a tubular plug slidably and tightly passes through the partition, which plug is open at both ends and has a widened piston-like head which is arranged to slide in a tight manner in the compensation chamber, and to separate the latter from an outlet chamber of the valve, in which the respective end of the tubular plug opens, a helical pressure spring being interposed between said piston-like head of the tubular plug and the partition, whereas the other end of the tubular plug cooperates, in the pressure chamber, with a facing pad, which forms the valve seat and is mounted in such a manner as to slide axially for adjustment purposes in a corresponding housing, which pad abuts axially, on the side opposite the plug, against an adjustment screw to be tightened in the valve body or in a part fastened thereto, and preferably consisting of a threaded stem, by which screw the pad may be pushed and displaced axially inwardly, preferably against the force of a helical spring accommodated in the pressure chamber, to adjust the axial position of the pad.
In prior art valves of this type, the pad which forms the valve seat rests against the adjustment screw in direct contact therewith, whereby it is driven along into rotation, due to friction, by the adjustment screw, when the latter is rotated to displace the pad for adjusting its axial position. This forced rotation of the pad is a substantial drawback, particularly if adjustment is performed after using the valve for a certain time. In fact, while the valve is used, the circular edge of the plug, which cooperates with the pad and generally has a thin and even sharp profile, and the surface of the pad cooperating therewith conform to each other and are typically deformed asymmetrically with respect to their axis, for instance due to the imperfect perpendicularity of the plug to the pad surface. As a result, when the pad is rotated by friction along with the adjustment screw upon further adjustment from its axial position, said mutual conformation between the plug edge and the pad surface, achieved while the valve was previously used, is lost, i.e. the deformations on the pad surface are angularly staggered with respect to the corresponding deformations or portions of the plug edge and, for instance, a notch formed in the surface of the pad by a portion of the plug edge is angularly displaced, thereby causing drawbacks known by those skilled in the art, e.g. problems in valve operation, incomplete closure of the valve or whistles and the like.
The invention has the object to obviate this drawback wherefore it provides at least one antifriction member between the pad and the adjustment screw, which is mounted in such a manner as to be free to rotate and slide and is arranged to avoid any direct contact between the end of the adjustment screw and the pad and to prevent the pad from being driven along into rotation by the adjustment screw, when the latter is rotated. By this arrangement, no interference is provided with the possible mutual conformation of the pad and the plug and all drawbacks deriving from angular displacement of the pad relative to the plug are avoided.
Said antifriction member of the invention may be made in any suitable manner. Nevertheless, preferably, according to a particularly simple, inexpensive and effective preferred embodiment of the invention, the antifriction member interposed between the pad and the adjustment screw in such a manner as to be able to rotate and to slide axially, consists of a disk or a flat washer or a toroidal ring, or the like, made of a relatively hard material and having a proper surface smoothness. This antifriction member may be made for instance of stainless steel, titanium, brass or any other suitable metal, or even of a sufficiently hard plastic, such as the plastic known as DELRIN, or the like.
Typically, the diameter of the antifriction member is at least slightly smaller than that of the pad, so that it does not contact the inner walls of the housing of said pad when it is centered with respect to it.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the antifriction member which is interposed between the pad and the adjustment screw in such a manner as to be free to rotate and slide axially, and/or the pad itself have mutual centering means. According to the invention this may be achieved, when the antifriction member is a disk, by providing the antifriction disk, on the side turned toward the pad, with a central centering projection which may have, for instance substantially the shape of a cone or a truncated cone or a spherical cap, or the like, and is engaged in a corresponding central centering recess provided on the side of the pad opposite the plug. Said centering projection of the antifriction disk is engaged in the corresponding centering recess of the pad preferably with a small radial and possibly even axial clearance, which clearance shall not allow the antifriction disk to become decentered with respect to the pad to such an extent as to come to contact with the side walls of the housing of the pad.
According to an additional characteristic of the invention, an O-ring is provided between the pad and its housing, and is accommodated in an annular peripheral groove of the pad or in an inner peripheral groove of the pad housing. This O-ring, besides ensuring tightness between the pad and its housing, also helpsxe2x80x94together with the antifriction member interposed between the pad and the adjustment screwxe2x80x94to prevent any rotation of the pad driven along by the adjustment screw, by compensating for any rotation movement transmitted by the antifriction member on the pad thanks to the retaining friction it exerts on the pad itself.